Election issues

09/26/2014

It's not often I laugh out loud at something on The Record's Insight Page, but the Peter Shawn Taylor commentary in Thursday's paper was snort-worthy.

Taylor, who apparently doesn't look to either side of the road when he's driving to work, was throwing in his two bits about the proposal for Waterloo Region to build its first segregated bicycle lane, along Manitou Drive between Homer Watson and Bleams Road in Kitchener.

The snort-worthy part is where Taylor refers to the segregated lane as the option that "is loudly preferred by (the mostly male) Lycra-clad commuter bikers who want to travel as fast as they can to work."

I have seen people on bicycles wearing Lycra as they ride to work, or the library or the shopping mall. Absolutely. I have worn it myself. Mostly, I've seen people in shorts, blue jeans, skirts, baggy pants and all manner of clothing. I've seen old men (well, I used to think of them as old -- now they are my peer group) with lunch buckets strapped on the rear racks (Gee, working people use bicycles). And women, with helmets and T-shirts, riding with bags of groceries or other purchased items in their front wire baskets. (Gee, consumers use bicycles)

In the course of his lengthy commentary, Taylor suggests he doesn't hate cyclists: he just wishes they would ride on multi-use paths, somewhere out of sight, separated from the law-abiding motorists by a berm and some trees.

Taylor is trying to do two things: First, he wants to stereotype those supporting that bicycle infrastructure as an elite, made up of Lycra-clad one-percenters. Second, he wants to convince us that multi-use trails and other off-road infrastructure is the answer to destination-oriented cyclists. The problem with that approach is that multi-use trails are a lot less likely to be built, then are bike lanes (whether segregated or not) on existing road infrastructure.

The challenge for us is to remind politicians that many cyclists are ordinary people, who bike to work, bike to school, to the bank and to the doctor's office. We need a place to ride -- and surprise, we have one, a fantastic, intricate and extensive travel network made up of our existing streets and roads, ready to be shared by motorists, commercial vehicles and cyclists. All we have to do is, with time and some budgetary considerations, allow road improvement projects to include space for cyclists.

06/05/2014

If every resident of Waterloo Region read and took to heart the contents of the Celebrate Cycling advertising tabloid that appeared in The Record today, all bicycle advocates could safely retire.

The 16-page insert has just about everything you want to know about cycling safety, from bicycle storage, to how to wear a helmet, from simple bicycle sizing, to off-roading tips and some advice for two ways to navigate Waterloo Region's notorious roundabouts.

Since it is a community partnership among the major municipalities, led by the Region of Waterloo, there are sections about bicycling infrastructure (both existing and planned) for Cambridge, Kitchener and Waterloo (the Waterloo way-finding signs look pretty good). There is a page of e-bike info -- likely not the last word on e-bikes, but good information for anyone thinking about buying one.

And, a June Bike Month calendar of bicycling events -- there's only one day of the month without a bicycling event listed (Sunday, June 29 -- if you have an event that day, let us know about it).

Looking through the insert, it feels like Waterloo Region is a bicycle-friendly community. If you have ridden in Waterloo Region, you know that its bicycle-friendliness is uneven, at best. Efforts like these can help, if everyone at least looks at them.

07/20/2013

I showed up about 90 minutes early at the Together We Travel Ride For Angels event today (Saturday), but even then, the parking lot at the Centre for International Governance Innovation in Waterloo was buzzing.

Shelter tents were going up, the logistics of registration was being worked out and route marshals were trying to figure out exactly what the route was.

Together We Travel is the first in what could become an annual cycling activism event. It resulted from last year's memorial ride for Barrie Conrod, killed by an overtaking driver while he and his partner Heather Caron were out on a sunny Sunday afternoon ride on a rural Waterloo Region road. That ride drew hundreds of riders -- many who knew Barrie and Heather, many who just wanted to come out to fly the flag for safe cycling on regional roads.

This year's ride is both a continuation of the strong feelings generated by the memorial ride, and a bit of a test -- is the local cycling community willing to support a "share the road" style bicycle ride to raise awareness of cycling safety and to demonstrate how significant the local cycling community is?

My point of contact with all this was one of the organizers, my friend Vy Waller. But there are a lot of people involved, including Heather Caron, Scott Nevin of the Waterloo Cycling Club and lots of others I only know by a nod and a handshake. And (full disclosure) I was a "volunteer" at this event, helping erect the tents and tying the red armbands on riders (sorry to all those who got the armband on the right arm, instead of the left).

(Filling out the waivers at the registration desk)

If I come off sounding like a cheerleader for it, you can attribute that to my overt enthusiasm for any cycling event that puts bikes on the road.

And this one did. Hard to do a head count. Certainly, more than 200. The organizers think as many as 400. (Sunday update: organizers say there were more than 300 attending.)

There were a lot of white shirts.

And it was pretty impressive, from my position near the back of the pack, to see a long line of cyclists filling a whole lane in various roads in Waterloo with recumbents, tandems, kiddie trailers, mountain bikes, even a bike with training wheels, and ridden by children, teens, parents, singles, seniors and bike club members.

The Waterloo Region Police were on board, helping stop traffic at key intersections -- to the chagrin of some motorists, held up for a few minutes as the parade passed by, who must have wondered if all the cyclists in Waterloo Region were out Saturday night.

Thanks to the generosity of the Uptown Waterloo Jazz Festival and Waterloo's Open Streets event, the ride was able to finish at the Waterloo Public Square, parking our bikes in the middle of Willis Way and using the jazz festival stage for the short speechifying at the ride's end.

Nevin asked the riders to "get the word out there to share the road." And Caron, holding back tears, said, "Our hope for the ride is to raise awarness of cycling safety, and to lead to changes."

Sadly, it will probably take more than one ride to do this. Hope to see you out there next year.

06/27/2013

Conrod, you may recall, was killed last year by an SUV driver who nodded off for a second while taking his family home on a beautiful clear Sunday morning, and fatally struck Conrod, who was out for a Sunday ride with his wife, Heather Caron. (My post on the resulting court case, here.)

Caron, has, with the help of cycling friends and members of the larger cycling community, put together a three-kilometre memorial ride for Conrod, and all those cyclists who have died on a ride. Titled, Together We Travel: Ride for Angels, the event will be held Saturday, July 20 in uptown Waterloo. (Facebook page is here.) Registration is 4:15 p.m. at the CIGI parking lot in Waterloo at Caroline and Erb; the ride begins at 5:30 p.m. There will be a police escort.

Riders are asked to wear a white shirt, wear a helmet and sign an insurance waiver. There will be a collection jar to help with the insurance costs.

The intention is for riders to take the lane, and demonstrate the diversity and commitment of the cycling community in this region.

Doing so might be a tough job, in the current climate. Statistics from the minimalist National Householder Survey (which only asked cyclists how long it took to ride to work), suggest that cycling in Waterloo Region is running below the national average. According to the 2011 survey, 1.1 per cent of commuters cycled to work in Kitchener/Waterloo/Cambridge, compared to 1.3 per cent nationally. Since the regional numbers are an apparent drop from the 1.6 per cent recorded in 2006, this may be simply a variation due to small sample size, or it could be that commuters are giving up on bikes.

But I guess the small sample size is the point. According to the survey, some 88 per cent of regional residents drive to work. Five per cent take the buse; four per cent walk. Those of us who use transit, sidewalks, crosswalks, pedestrian islands, crossing signals or bike lanes: we're just a fraction of the population that uses the roadways, and a vocal segment of that motoring group seems to see sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes as impedimentia.

Unless we want to become completely marginalized, we need to show ourselves. A white shirt and a bike ride would be one way to do that.

Caron writes in a letter to the public that:

"I hope you will join me in this short ride around downtown Waterloo. Our ride will serve as a reminder to motorists and cyclists to respect each other and remember those who have been affected. . . . The community has been so supportive to me. I can't begin to thank everyone. I hope we can continue to remember and honour until the time comes that we don’t need to promote safety on the roads. Safety for all."

05/10/2013

I may have missed this in previous years, but it appears that the Canadian Autombile Association is asking cyclists to nominate Ontario's worst roads.

CAA Ontario has a Worst Roads campaign every year, mostly to shame the provincial government into doing something about the network of potholes and washboard we sometimes mistake for a highway network.

This year, the invitation letter I got at home read, "Whether the issue is traffic congestion, potholes, timing of traffic lights, road signs or pedestrian and cycling safety, we want to hear from you." The word "cycling" was not highlighted in the letter, but certainly in my mind.

In Waterloo Region, so much material to work with: the junction from Park Street to the Laurel Trail; the Iron Horse Trail crossing on Victoria Street, the washboard on Ottawa Street under the Expressway, the bike lanes that dead-end on busy and crowded Westmount Road . . . I could go on.

Have your turn by participating. You can go here to vote for the Worst Roads in Ontario.

You might want to gloss over the fact that your participation includes you in a draw for a daily draw on a $50 Petro-Canada gift card and a final draw for a prize of gas for a year. Perhaps "fuel" for a year could have been a gift card to Swiss Chalet...

It was a marketing idea from the Florida Three Feet Please campaign, which used to sell sticks and jerseys, but found that there were more cyclists willing to wear jerseys, than there were motorists willing to mess up their cars with stickers.

I suppose there could be some indecorous references one might draw from such a bumper sticker, hence the tee-heeing (and perhaps the reason why this particular sticker design was dropped).

Nonetheless, the message is loud and proud: when driving, I do give three feet (or one metre) when passing cyclists or other vulernable road users. It does amaze me how many motorists feel it is necessary to stay as close to the curb as possible (with its potholes, sewer grates, puddles, flattened catalytic converters and other detritus) when they could just as easily be using the dotted line or centreline as their landmark, and confidently travel in their lane.

And, in fact, Ontario motorists should get used to landmarking on the centreline. The three-foot passing law is on the books in 18 U.S. states, with Arizona slated to join the pack this month. A one-metre (three-foot) passing law is part of the recommendations from last year's coroner's report on cycling deaths in Ontario. And there has already been an attempt to put a private member's bill on the subject before the legislature.

It's only a matter of time.

And while you're waiting, you might invest in a three-foot cycling jersey.

Here's one, from Share the Damn Road. They have other, more pointed jerseys, if you think this one isn't clear enough... (is it possible a motorist will think that the cyclist HAS three feet?) Ah well...

01/29/2013

Then there was Christmas (busy, busy), got sick (oh great), went on holidays (yeah, Mexico), got sick again (some flu shot that was) and just looked up to realize that TODAY (Tuesday, Jan. 29) is the deadline for filing.

Yes, between drinking tea and chewing on Vitamin C tabs and popping zinc pills, I am scribbling out some thoughts on bike lanes, Idaho stops and helmet laws. You still have time to respond, too, if you feel so inclined. To all of you who have already responded, thank you, and I feel rightly ashamed.

11/30/2012

The Ministry is among several provincial agencies that has had something to say about cycling in Ontario. The office of the Chief Coroner this summer released a cycling death review that had a lot to say to various ministries and governments about cycling safety. The Ontario Medical Association weighed in last year with its Enhancing Cycling Safety in Ontario, and various agencies of public health have contributed their thoughts about active lifestyles.

But this is the big one. The Ministry of Transportation actually designates money that builds things: whether that's paved, segregated bicycle lanes or bicycle storage at public transit facilities. And the ministry sets the tone for every new driver who is licensed in Ontario. If you want Ontario drivers to be trained to share the road, you have to have the Ministry of Transportation on side.

So really, you should read the draft strategy and offer your comments. And don't delay. Sixty days have a way of running out. In fact, if you are reading this on Saturday: only 59 days left.

You've probably read something about the draft strategy elsewhere. To recap, the strategy is looking at: better cycling infrastructure through a provincial cycling network, and through provincial support (cash, advice, policy) of municipally authorized cycling networks; better cycling safety, through education for cyclists and drivers and updates to the (incredibly outdated) Highway Traffic Act; and better overwatch, through monitoring and co-ordination (which sounds like a bonanza for consultants, but really does have a bearing on how improvements are made).

It is interesting that two recommendations of the Chief Coroner's report, made specifically to the Ministry of Transportation, are not in any way addressed in the draft strategy:

First, no mention of mandatory bicycle helmet legislation -- which really stirred up the beehive when it was suggested back in June of this year.

Second, no mention of the one-metre/three-foot passing law, which has been the subject of one private member's bill and many lobbying attempts. It appears that it continues to go nowhere fast.

Neither does the draft cycling strategy address the question of e-bikes. There has been a lot of energy generated about e-bikes, whether police are enforcing the law, whether the law is clear enough, whether e-bike users should be required to be licensed. Other than defining what an e-bike is and where it can be used, no discussion of the e-bike's future.

Of course, there are 60 days to discuss all of this. Go to the website, read the draft strategy and press the button to submit your responses.

10/01/2012

If you can make a two-year commitment to making Kitchener a better place for cyclists, the Kitchener Cycling Advisory Committee has a space for you.

The committee, which meets monthly and formulates advice for Kitchener city council members on bicycle infrastructure policy, is looking for new recruits for a new two-year term, to begin in January 2013.

You can fill out an online application form here, where you can also download the terms of reference for the committee. Deadline for applications is Oct. 5 (yes, that's this Friday). For more info, you can contact Josh Joseph, Kitchener's transportation demand management co-ordinator at 519-741-3400, ext. 3167 or by email at josh.joseph@kitchener.ca

09/20/2012

Way back in 2010, while at Velo-city Global 2010 in Copenhagen, I posted on a presentation from John Whitelegg, a prof in transportation studies from John Moores University in Liverpool.

The post was titled "Are lower urban speed limits in our future?", based on his research showing that 95 per cent of peds and cyclists will survive being hit by objects travelling at a speed of 32 km/h or less, while fully 55 per cent won't survive being struck at 48 km/h or faster.

So, of course, it was with interest that I read the reportage on the recent Ontario coroner's report on pedestrian deaths in Ontario. While the coroner's Report on Cycling Deaths (released in June, go here for both reports) made virtually no mention of speed limits, the attention on the Pedestrian Death Review seemed to be entirely about the speed limits.

In fact, that was one recommendation of many. Here's the recommendation: "The MTO should amend the Highway Traffic Act to allow local
municipalities to lower the unsigned default speed limit to 40
kilometres an hour on residential streets from the current limit of 50
kilometres an hour." (It was later elaborated to indicate that speed limits on residential streets should be reduced to 30 km/h while all other municipal streets should be 40 km/h.)

There were lots of other recommendations: that Ontario communities should adopt a "complete streets" approach to planning and redevelopment (a recommendation that also was the first item in the cycling deaths review); that the province should develop a walking strategy; that side guards be manadatory on transport trucks (also in the cycling deaths review); that the Driver's Handbook be updated to reflect the new realities (also in the cycling review); and that there be publlic education and police education and enforcement (also in the cycling review).

You could view both reports as convergent (the exceptions being the speed limits, mentioned only in the pedestrian review, and the three-foot passing law and mandatory helmets, mentioned only in the cycling review).

I think you can read a few things from both reviews:

One is that complete streets is the way of the future for municipal planning. No surprise since it is already happening at the grassroots level. Eventually, the provincial funding agencies will respond.

Another is that truck side guards are going to happen. They are already happening ... you can see examples on the major highways every day.

And another is lower speed limits. Not one of the "convergent" items, but cyclist and pedestrian advocates have been talking about lower limits for years. It fits with the complete streets planning model and is the logical way to reduce insurance costs, health funding, and energy consumption. Every roadway innovation of recent years -- traffic calming, roundabouts, community safety zones -- has been intended to reduce speed limits in the urban/suburban setting.

Lower speed limits are in our future and that can only be good news for cyclists.